The Class 3A #6 PCM girls basketball team outlasted Pella Christian in a physical season opener between the two schools for a 48-34 victory heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Eagles held a narrow advantage early in the back-and-forth contest, jumping out to a 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, and carrying a 24-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. Out of the break, the Mustangs flipped the momentum, using a 5-0 run in the first two minutes of the third quarter to pull ahead 28-24. The two teams reverted to trading baskets for a majority of the period, before PCM finished the quarter with a 7-0 run in the final two and a half minutes to take a 39-32 advantage into the final eight minutes of play. The Mustangs carried that momentum into the fourth quarter, as they outscored the Eagles 9-2 en route to securing the 14-point victory. 

PCM’s Libby Winters led all scorers in the game with 20 points, while Jorja Teeter added 11 points. Rachel Kacmarynski led Pella Christian’s scoring effort with 17 points, while Addie Van Arendonk contributed nine points. Mustangs’ head coach Sami Allison-Rodriguez said that her squad’s defensive effort in the second half was a major factor in flipping the momentum in the game.

“I thought our defense really locked it down in the second half. I thought going to the zone was probably something I should have done a little bit earlier, so that’s on me, but just to get them a little bit out of sync. They were just in a flow in that first half, so we got out of it a little bit in the second half. And then we were just gritty. I thought we were super gritty to finish that out.”

Eagles head coach Jon Mumm said that while they came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard Friday night, there were a lot of things to be excited about moving forward.

“There’s so many positives that we’re going to point out. We’re going to continue to build our confidence. We’re going to get stronger. We’re going to get better with handling the pressure and the physicality and so, I’m just so excited about this team and we have so many things to look forward to this season.”

PCM starts the season 1-0 overall, and will return to the court on Tuesday for a non-conference tilt at Carlisle at 6 pm. Pella Christian fell to 0-1 overall on the winter, and they also return to action for a non-conference game at 7:30 pm on Tuesday at home against Montezuma.